The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a suit filed by the Osun State Government seeking to compel the Federal Government to release allegedly withheld allocations due to the state’s local government councils.
In a split decision of six to one, the seven-member panel held that the legal action instituted by the Attorney General of Osun State was incompetent. According to Vanguard, the lead judgment delivered by Justice Mohammed Idris found that the state lacked the locus standi to invoke the Supreme Court’s original jurisdiction on behalf of its 30 local government areas.
Justice Idris clarified that the Constitution empowers the Supreme Court to act as a court of first instance only in disputes strictly between the Federal Government and a state. In this instance, the court held that local government councils—recognised under Nigerian law as autonomous entities—were the proper parties to challenge any alleged withholding of funds by the Federal Government.
He further rejected the Osun Attorney General’s submission that the matter qualified as a public interest suit, stressing that constitutional limits on jurisdiction could not be sidestepped under the guise of public interest litigation.
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Although the apex court upheld a preliminary objection filed by the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), questioning the competence of the suit, it used the opportunity to remind the Federal Government of its constitutional obligation to implement fiscal autonomy for all 774 local government councils across Nigeria. The court reiterated that its earlier judgment on local government financial independence must be fully respected and enforced.
Osun State had asked the court to declare that the AGF could not disregard existing decisions of the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal by withholding allocations or directing payments to previously sacked APC local government officials. Counsel to the state, Musibau Adetunbi, SAN, argued that the AGF sought to “destroy the res” by attempting to release funds to a disputed group despite a subsisting court order.
The Federal Government, however, maintained that the state had failed to establish any cause of action, insisting that Osun was using the suit to frustrate APC officials whose tenure had already expired. It further argued that the plaintiff lacked the necessary standing and had abused judicial process.
More details are expected as reactions from stakeholders continue to emerge.
